Blue Planet II – Predictions for the Future of Our Oceans

18th December 2017|BY David Marinelli

“For years, we thought that the oceans were so vast and the inhabitants so infinitely numerous that nothing we could do could have an effect on the future of our oceans. Now we know we were wrong.”
Sir David Attenborough

“If the oceans weren’t healthy and the oceans don’t stay healthy, and regain their health, humans will be doomed. that’s the bottom line. The oceans make the Earth a habitable planet.”
Dr Samantha Joye – Marine Biologist

The oceans are home to half the life on Earth today. They produce 50% of the oxygen on the planet.

“Climate change is real. It will change where things are, even where people live, but will we stop before we go too far?”
Errol Harris – Conservationist

“The Antarctic is a very special place and what’s happening there affects trhe rest of the world. It’s also holding an awful lot of the water on our planet locked up as ice and how that’s changing will have implications for sea levels around the world.”
Dr Jon Copley – Marine biologist

Some predict that by 2050, plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean.

“It’s horrifying to think that plastic has washed up on our beaches and brought back by our wildlife, we cannot ignore it anymore. It’s really shocking, you know, our ocean has become a dumping ground simply because people don’t see what’s in the ocean”
Dr Lucy Quinn – British Antarctic Survey

It has been reported that 90% of seabirds could be contaminated with plastic.

“I’m personally really scared for coral reefs. I think that they are in a lot of trouble. In recent years, it’s thought that half the world’s coral reefs have been affected by bleaching. The changes in our behaviour to conserve coral reefs need to happen really soon, otherwise, you know, our kids aren’t going to be able to see these places. There’s not going to be a coral left, there’s not going to be any fish left.”
Alex Vail – Marine Biologist

In the last two years, two thirds of Australia’s shallow water reefs may have been affected by bleaching.

“It’s what we’ve done. Most people don’t realise the magnitude of changes that are happening. I don’t want to make people afraid. I want to empower them. I want to make them understand that we have to change things. We can’t keep the status quo up anymore, we have to change.”
Dr Samantha Joye – Marine Biologist

“I think that there are two possible futures for the ocean. the first is the one that we’ve been sleepwalking towards. we know where that’s heading. but there is another future that we can still choose and that’s were we are learning from the oceans, from the ingenuity of nature. That’s where he oceans are helping to support the 7 billion people and more that our planet currently has. We are at the crossroads right now. It is not too late to choose the future we want., but we need to act now and we need to act together”
Dr Jon Copley – Marine biologist

“I hope in my lifetime that we will see the oceans improving but it will mean everybody working together and working together with that shared goal of trying to restore the health of the oceans.”
Dr Steve Simpson – Marine biologist

“There’s that American Indian phrase ‘we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our grandchildren’ and for me that really strikes a chord because I want my children to be able to swim with dolphins. I want them to be able to dive on coral reefs. everybody can make a difference, everybody can do little things and those l;ittle things add up and collectively they make a huge difference”
Dr Samantha Joye – Marine Biologist